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Announcing the Rules for my Free Computer Giveaway

Earlier this fall, I teamed up with HP for the Freshman 15 giveaway and was able to give a brand spanking new laptop to a most deserving student. As I announced a couple weeks back, HP, now teamed up with Microsoft, has returned with an even sweeter offer: 4 brand new computers for me to give away; not to mention printers, software, DVDs, the whole works…

Today, I officially open my contest. The rules are listed below and you have exactly one week to enter.

But before I continue, I should clarify, in case you’re wondering: I get nothing out of this promotion. (Sadly.) That is, HP is not paying me. Their hope is that by giving away thousands of dollars of free stuff they will generate good will with you guys. My interest is only that I like giving you free stuff!

The Official Rules

The rules for my contest are as follows:

You have to be a current college or graduate student to enter.

You have to e-mail me by midnight EST on Wednesday 12/17 with a proposal for how you would play Santa Claus at your school this season if you were to win. In other words, make a pitch for how you would distribute this equipment at your school if you were to win the contest. (Of course, I assume that you’ll keep one of the machines for yourself!) Is there a club that really needs it? Do you have an idea for a campus-wide contest? Do you have a plan to use the giveaway to drum up some media attention or raise money for a worthy cause?

You don’t have to live in the United States to win.

To select the winner, I will start randomly selecting entries to read. The first proposal that I come across that I consider to be “really cool” will win the prize. The definition of “really cool” is left to my discretion, but my threshold will be really high. Please don’t bother entering if you’re a not a student or if you know me — in both cases you won’t win.

The Prizes

Listed below are the prizes the winner will receive. Wherever possible I included links to unbiased reviews. (Actually, I stole the review links from the post over at Student Bloggers, so my many thanks are sent in their direction.)

I should add that from my own personal experience (by which I mean screwing around with it at Staples) the TouchSmart computer is as fun to use as it looks on TV. Though I wonder if, over time, a user might get bored with the slowness of touching the screen and return exclusively to the mouse?

I will also note that my officemate Alex here at MIT loves his HP Mini. It’s very small. And very light. But he runs Debian Linux on it with no real complaints.

Below is the full list of participating blogs. Each of these sites is holding their own contest on their dates with their own rules. Check them out (especially the other student blogs) for 49 other chances to win.

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About Cal Newport

I'm a computer science professor who writes about the intersection of technology and society. I’m particularly interested in the impact of new technologies on our ability to perform productive work and lead satisfying lives. If you’re new to my writing, a good place to start is the about page. You can access over a decade's worth of posts in the blog archive.

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